Roses and Thistles: Is a Herky the Hawk exhibit in the Smithsonian's future?

David Skorton

A rose to former University of Iowa President David Skorton, who was named last week to lead the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Since leaving Iowa in 2006, Skorton has been president of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where he has earned a national reputation for his inclusive leadership and fundraising skill. Though he was trained as a medical doctor specializing in cardiology, Skorton is an intellectual omnivore who plays the saxophone and flute and once hoped to play jazz professionally. Skorton's interest in bringing the sciences and humanities together will serve him well as the 13th leader of the Smithsonian, a research institution and museum complex that counts 137 million specimens, exhibits, works of art and historical artifacts in a collection of 19 museums that attracted 30 million visitors last year. The job of running this enormous institution drew 200 candidates. That Skorton was picked will come as no surprise at the University of Iowa, where he was a respected and well-liked member of the faculty for 26 years before serving as president. Iowa's loss is the Smithsonian's gain.

A rose to Iowa state agencies that will be helping inmates sign up for health insurance upon their release from prison. The Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services will begin working with inmates nearing release to help them get signed up for insurance under the state's new version of Medicaid. Under existing rules, inmates are not eligible to apply for Medicaid while in prison, so the state will help them apply for coverage to take effect when they are released. This will help them make the transition to civil society. It could make the difference between success and failure for former inmates, a large percentage of whom struggle with mental illness and need treatment and medication. The state has as much interest in setting criminal offenders on the right path as in punishing them. Making sure they have access to health care is a good way to do that.

A thistle to Muscatine County Sheriff Dave White for exhibiting remarkable powers of selective perception. It was in Muscatine County, it may be recalled, where a group of mentally disabled men were cruelly exploited by a Texas outfit called Henry's Turkey Service to work in a turkey processing plant in West Liberty. They were housed in deplorable conditions in a dilapidated former schoolhouse in Atalissa and physically abused. Last Sunday the New York Times caught up with the story, which the Register exposed five years ago. The treatment of the men was universally condemned, but the sheriff apparently doesn't see it that way. The men "had about every game, game table, yard games, etc., to play in their off hours both indoor and outdoor," he said in an email to a Times reporter. "I don't believe there is anyone of my staff that felt that these individuals were in any way abused or mistreated." Well, yes, there were some benefits. They were paid, after all. Even if it was only 41 cents an hour.

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Roses and Thistles: Is a Herky the Hawk exhibit in the Smithsonian's future?

A rose to former University of Iowa President David Skorton, who was named last week to lead the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.